


Familia

by iwriteshipsnotsailthem



Series: Spider-Man Klance AU [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), Established Relationship, Keith (Voltron) as Spider-Man, Keith is Spider-Man, M/M, Meet the Family, Meeting the Parents, Soft Keith/Lance (Voltron), Swearing, spider-man au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26312413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwriteshipsnotsailthem/pseuds/iwriteshipsnotsailthem
Summary: Keith thinks by now he's gotten a good hang on being Spider-Man. The people of New York City love him, and he's finally got the respect of most of the police force.Now he's just got to sort out his personal life, with meeting Shiro's new boyfriend, meeting Lance's family while trying to figure out how to tell him he loves him.That is until a new threat arises and Keith has a whole new list of things to worry about.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Spider-Man Klance AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1526615
Comments: 201
Kudos: 399





	1. Detour To Your Window

**Author's Note:**

> long time no see!!! I've missed this au but i'm BACK with another part :D i hope you enjoy 💕
> 
> As always, the title is inspired by a song from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack!

Diving off buildings creates a lot of speed, which, you know, makes a lot of sense. It might surprise others to know it was also really loud, that the wind's whistling deafened most other sounds. Even if it's only for just a few seconds until he changed directions, like right now.

Keith's eyes locked onto his target; a huge SUV swerving through traffic, clipping the sides of other cars and running red lights. Other than the obvious disturbance, it was easy to tell where he needed to go because following behind was a raring police car. It’s sirens blasting throughout the whole street.

"Who have we got today?" Keith asked Pidge over the communication device installed in his mask. He swung around the building, using his feet to project himself as the cars turned a sharp corner.

"Some sort of thieving gang. Just robbed the main bank after keeping a bunch of hostages."

"Armed?"

"What do you think?" The roll of her eyes was obvious in her tone.

"Right," he murmured and let go of his current web, dropping himself on top of the police car, hitching himself a ride.

He poked his head down, peering through the window to gave the police officers a thumbs up so they didn't freak out prematurely. In the driver's seat was none other than his own brother, Shiro. But in the current situation he was strictly Officer Shirogane, he didn't need his big brother figuring out who was under the mask.

Standing up on top of the moving car, Keith bent his knees and waited for the perfect moment to strike.

"Got any idea how many perps are in there?" Keith asked as he squinted at the tinted windows. His eyes were good, but not _that_ good.

"The reports are saying two known, but there very well could be more."

"Well let's hope for two." He moved like a whip; hard, fast and relentless. The perps would know that he had arrived with the clank of his feet on the roof of the car and his reputation for these sorts of things. His thought was confirmed when a gun pointed his way, hanging out from the SUV window.

"Thank you," he quipped, shooting a web which easily connected, allowing him to yank the weapon out of the thief's hand. Throwing the gun towards the police car, he shot another web so the gun would be webbed to the roof. Out of sight, out of mind and out of dangerous lunatics' hands.

Slamming his fist against the bulletproof glass, he smashed it, creating a whole for his hand to fit through. Shooting another round of the specially formulated goo, he stuck the passenger of the getaway car to his seat.

The driver swerved sharply, probably an attempt to throw him off. Luckily for Keith, his feet and hands stuck to the roof, able to remove himself like velcro whatever he wanted.

He wasn't going _anywhere_.

This quickly got through the robber's head as he slammed the brakes. He threw himself out of the SUV as the police car also halted to a stop, managing to only tap the bumper without causing a full on collision. The distraction allowed the getaway driver to make a runner, leaving their webbed comrade behind.

It was a panic induced mistake on their part. It gave Keith enough time to web the bag full of stolen goods, yank it out of their hands and into his own grasp. Just in perfect concession for Shiro and his partner to get out of the car and back it up.

Keith threw the heavy bag in his brother's direction. "Jackass number one is stuck in the car, Jackass number two has done a runner. I'll go get him."

The two officers nodded in agreement and hesitantly approached the car, already having most of the job done for them since Keith had enabled them.

Now was Spider-Man's time to catch up to their runner.

The person who had gotten away had dodged through traffic and was making his way on foot. Keith had to admit, blending in with the crowd had been a good idea. New York city pedestrian lanes were always quick and crowded.

He swung by over the cars, low enough for him to hear people calling out to him and giving him a better insight to who was who. He had a good general idea of who he was looking for. Big, burly guy with a beard and in black. Classic, a real trope.

His eyes caught on to somebody with that exact description running out of the way of the people on the sidewalk, slinking down an empty alleyway. Keith followed.

It was almost like he wanted this to be easy.

Using his radioactive speed to his advantage, he went ahead of the perp. Keith's feet landed soundlessly onto the roof as the man attempted to climb the barbwire fence of the alleyway. The guy was so frantic and desperate he hadn't even noticed Keith there, only seeing him when he jumped from the roof and landed on top of the fence.

He crouched down; face to face.

"I have to give it to you," Keith started, "-you're pretty good. Not too smart with escape plans, but quick." He didn't flinch as the man dropped from the fence and turned around, only to find himself facing three police officers and a dog, barking in his direction.

The man turned over to look at him with a furious snarl on his lips.

"You're probably gonna want to keep that angry face on. I'm sure your buddy is not going to be too impressed with the fact you left him when you both are locked up."

His words made Pidge snicker.

The exchange of getting the man in cuffs was amusing to watch, the man really put up a fight and tried to swing at Shiro, only missing by an inch.

Once in the back of the police car, Keith jumped down from the fence, walking over to his new comrades. He was still not used to being considered on the side of the law, a helpful hand rather than a nuisance.

"Hey, sorry guys I gotta go. I have a chiropractor appointment. Gotta get my back checked out from carrying the whole team."

The officer who he knew as Officer Marlin shook her head, a smile on her lips. "You keep telling yourself that Spider-Man."

"Yeah, keep talking like that and will get you some quality bug spray," Shiro said after returning from throwing the criminal in the back of the car.

Keith put his hands up in surrender and took a few steps back. "Oh god, don't do it to me."

Officer Marlin was Shiro's partner and mentor. Keith had known her for a long time, liked her, also knew she had always taken a liking to Spider-Man. He also knew Shiro was a Spidey fan after the whole 'saving kids from falling off a bridge' incident, so he was comfortable enough to joke with the two of them. Not all the police were totally on board with him helping, so he had to watch his smartass comments.

"We've got it from here. Thanks."

Keith gave them a lazy salute before he turned and swung himself to the top of the building, already knowing which destination he was going to go next.

"You're free to retire for the night," Keith said to Pidge as he let go of the web and let himself flip down for a moment before throwing himself back into the wind by shooting another web.

"Are you going straight home?" Pidge asked.

"Going on a little detour, but after that I'll be going home. Shiro would be finishing after dealing with that guy. He'll be home soon."

"Detour, huh?" Pidge said with a menacing tone. "Say hi to Lance for me." Then with the crackle, her end of the line got cut off, leaving him with just his thoughts. It stayed like that, him and his head, until he reached a quiet street on the outskirts of the city.

Before, Keith didn't even need to think about the route he would have to take to go home. Now, it was very much the same, except his first stop was a bedroom that certainly wasn't his.

Climbing up the wall to the second story window, Keith poked his head to look through. A smile came to his lips as he spotted Lance curled up on his bed, wearing a hoodie that suspiciously looked like one of Keith's. He had a book on his lap, eyes quickly scanning the pages.

A part of him didn't want to tap on the window with his finger to gain his attention because his boyfriend looked so cute concentrating. Yet he knew as soon as he did the smile would come to the other boys lips and it would be worth it.

Tapping gently on the window he watched Lance's eyes tip upwards. Just like Keith expected, a big warm smile appeared on Lance's mouth. Immediately he jumped to his feet and opened the window.

As Keith guessed, interrupting his reading time was worth it. As Lance pushed the window up fully, a light gust of wind that came into the room, making his wavy brown hair dance around his cheekbones.

"You _came!_ " Lance cheered quietly, trying to contain his enthusiasm, not wanting to attract the attention of his other family members. Keith couldn't help but laugh quietly, thinking it was sweet that he was so genuinely excited to see him.

"Yeah. Of course. Am I allowed in?"

At that, his smile brightened. Stepping backwards he gave Keith enough room to climb through the window.

After his feet hit the ground Lance was quick to wrap his arms around Keith's neck, taking the mask off his face in the same fluid moment.

"There he is," Lance cooed, leaning up towards him to press a kiss to his lips. As he did, Keith wrapped his arms around Lance's waist to lift him off the ground. Smiling as Lance made a surprised, happy sound around his lips.

His boyfriend had never made it a secret that he enjoyed being picked up. Not that Keith cared, he'd provide any ounce of happiness he could to him, even if that meant carrying him around like a baby.

Their happy relationship was obvious by their smiles as they pulled back. To think there was a time he had lived without this.

"Did you kick ass tonight?" Lance asked with a big mischievous grin as Keith lowered him back to the ground.

"Well, I rode on top of a police car, took some guns off some guys who really shouldn't have been able to have guns, and retrieved a few bags of stolen money."

Lance's smile deepened. "Hell _yeah_ you did," he said, pulling him by the back of the neck so he good pepper kisses along Keith's jawline, then after a few chaste kisses he pressed one to the tip of his nose.

Keith felt his cheeks go warm at the attention from Lance's lips. How could they not? He had a cute boy kissing his face and grinning so affectionately at him.

"Now how long do I have before you have to jump out of my window?" he asked. Keith glanced towards Lance's alarm clock next to his bed.

"About 30 seconds," he said which made Lance pout. "I have to get home before Shiro so I can get out of the suit."

"That is the worst thing I've heard all day!"

Keith grinned. "Don't be dramatic.”

"I'm not being dramatic! I am a simple man with simple needs and what I _need_ is to give my boyfriend cuddles."

Keith wrapped his arms back around Lance with a smile. "Why don't you come over to mine this weekend and we can watch movies? You can get all the cuddles you want."

Lance was ecstatic about the offer for a few seconds before he suddenly lost it. His smile turned soft and a little shy.

" _Actually_ , I was hoping this weekend you could come here." The way he said it made it sound like there was more to the suggestion. "...to have dinner with my family."

Keith's eyes widened. Of course he had met some of Lance's family. But the introductions had only been fleetingly as he picked Lance up to take him somewhere or when he dropped him home. He had never sat down and had dinner with them and he hadn't met most of his siblings.

"Why do you look so terrified? Don't look so scared! They're my family, not piranhas!"

"I don't mean to – I don't think..." Keith groaned and scratched the back of his head, averting his eyes as he watched Lance's smile drop.

"Do you not want to meet my family?"

" _No!_ No it isn't like that!" He insisted honestly. "I guess I'm just nervous. I want them to like me."

"And they will!" Lance said quietly, still well aware that his family didn't know someone was in Lance's room. From what Lance had said of his mother, he knew she _definitely_ wouldn't appreciate them being alone in his bedroom, never mind his suit. "You're a good, sweet guy. They know this from the way I speak about you. There's no way they wouldn't love you."

Keith stared at his boyfriend, taking in his genuine words and expression, to the point where there wasn't a chance of him doing anything else but give in.

"Okay, this weekend sounds great."

Lance grinned and bounced on his toes before leaning in and kissing his cheek.

"Thank you, it means a lot to me."

Keith knew that, which is exactly why he had said yes.

"I have to go now, but I'll see you tomorrow at school."

Lance nodded, leaning up to put the mask back over Keith's head, not without giving him a final kiss on the lips before pulling it over his mouth.

"See you tomorrow," he said as he detached himself from Keith's arms, waving him out as he crawled out the window and flipped back into being Spider-Man, swinging through the night.

* * *

"So," Shiro said at the breakfast table while Keith was shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. "I was hoping this weekend you would finally be able to meet Adam."

Right, _Adam._

Shiro and Adam. From what Keith could tell, they were kinda together when they were younger, but not really (Keith wasn’t sure, the details were foggy). Adam left town and was never to been seen again. 

That was until a few weeks ago, of course.

"I can't," he said around his mouthful and swallowed. "Having dinner with Lance's family."

Shiro gave a surprised blink. "Wow, that's... _exciting._ "

Keith rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that look. Thinking about it makes me want to curl up into a ball and die, but it's for Lance so I don't care."

Shiro smiled wistfully. "I can't believe my little brother is in love."

Keith proceeded to choke on his cereal, swallowing it and trying to ignore his red face. _"Shiro!"_ He shouted but his brother just laughed as he stood up from his chair and ruffled Keith's hair.

"Nothing wrong with being in love Keithy," he insisted as he grabbed his radio and keys.

"I'm not –" he stopped himself with a frown, not quite being able to form those words.

_Did that mean...?_

"Don't burst a blood vessel over it. Also I'll get you to meet Adam another time. We have all the time in the world."

_Until he decides to leave you again._

"Whatever," Keith murmured. "I'll see you later."

"Bye kiddo. Don't be late to catch the bus!" He said closing the door behind him.

Keith sighed in his absence, took another mouthful of cereal and tried to forget about all the new people he was going to be meeting and addressing the extent of his feelings.

* * *

"Stop laughing," Keith growled at his friend who was cackling as they walked to the cafeteria. "I don't see what's so funny."

Pidge wheezed on her breath, hand going to your heart. "You – _you_ meeting _anyone's_ parents!" She half shouted out her laugh, clapping her hands like a seal, as if it was the funniest thing she had heard in her life.

"Again, this isn't funny."

"Oh man, can you please wear a secret camera so you can record the whole thing? I want to see this shit!"

"I hate you. You're supposed to be supporting me, not laughing right at my face," Keith grumbled.

"How could I _not_ laugh at imagining you quiver under the eyes of Lance's parents? You're going to be so awkward and it's going to be priceless! And doesn't he have two older brothers and sisters? Oh _man,_ you're gonna _die!_ "

Keith rolled his eyes as they sat down at their regular table. "Prepare yourself because this story only gets worse."

"How was it going to be any more amazing than it already is?"

Keith looked at his friend with a deadpan expression. "Shiro really wants me to meet his 'kind of' boyfriend."

Pidge almost dropped to the ground in pure shock but when she stabilised herself she was grinning ear to ear. "Oh my god, you're right, it got better! "

"I would've had to meet him this weekend if it weren't for Lance saving my ass."

"What am I saving your ass from?" The perky voice almost surprised him, but Keith's senses picked up that someone was close behind him. Keith looked over his shoulder to see Lance beside Hunk.

It was ridiculously easy to merge their friendship groups together. Pidge was already friends with Hunk and Keith thought he was probably one of the nicest people he'd ever met.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just –"

"You saved Keith from having to meet Shiro's new boyfriend this weekend," Pidge cut in.

 _"Oh,"_ Lance drawled out. Keith had spoken to him about Adam before, well, maybe ' _complained'_ was more of an appropriate word choice. Lance was always there to listen to him vent, and for some reason Keith just didn't trust Adam. Maybe it was because he had left Shiro once, especially in the time of his greatest need. It was only a few months after their mother died that Adam disappeared.

It was when Shiro needed him the most the guy _left_.

"Well I'm glad to save you," Lance chirped, hands behind his back as he rolled from the tip of his toes to his heels. "Did you tell Pidge that you're meeting my family this weekend?"

"Oh yeah, he told me _all_ about it," she snickered which prompted Keith to glare over his shoulder at her.

Gladly Lance hadn't seen it and was only smiling.

"You're going to _love_ my mama's cooking."

"I have to contend with that," Hunk said. "If I was to ever say that somebody was a close second to my mum's cooking, it would be mama McClain."

Lance smiled proudly. "Mama McClain is killing the game. She's really excited to meet you," he added the last part softly. So soft that it melted his heart a little because it was so genuine.

"Yeah, she already likes you from all the times that Lance talks about you, which is _all_ the time," Hunk said which attributed the betrayed expression from his friend. "What? It's the truth."

Lance just rolled his eyes with a huff and looked back to Keith. "As embarrassing as it is, he is telling the truth." His sheepish expression instantly turned to excitement. "You also get to meet my niece and nephew!"

"So Lance," Pidge started and by her evil expression Keith knew this was going to go bad. "How many members of the family is Keith meeting _all at once_ , ready to form a judgement of him in the first five minutes?"

_That little –_

"Well obviously my mama and papa," Lance started, not noticing his despair. "Then all my siblings. Luis, Marco, Veronica and even Rachel is home from university! It's the reason why I wanted it to be this weekend, because I really wanted you to meet her too. Then Sylvio and Nadia."

" _Wow_ , that's a _lot_ of people."

Keith wanted to break his Spider-Man rule that he wasn't allowed to kill just this _one_ time.

"Yeah, but they're super nice, not to be biased or anything because they're my family. He's going to do just fine. They'll love him for sure." For a second that encouragement felt like it was going to work. Because Lance's words were so kind and caring and sweet and pretty and Keith was so willing to melt in a puddle for him.

_Oh shit._

Maybe Keith was in love?

* * *

"I can tell you're stressed about meeting my family," Lance said casually as he wrote down a note in his notebook for his next article in their school newspaper meeting. "You've been weird ever since I asked. If it's really too much I'm not going to force you to come. They won't think poorly of you for it."

The way he said that with nonchalance made Keith even more aware of the importance. Lance was usually so dramatic and over the top, it's when he's like this he cares.

"I'm just nervous." Keith said. "Your family means a lot to you, it's just a little intimidating, I guess."

A soft laugh left Lance's mouth. "You? Mr 'I can lift buses and jump off buildings' is intimidated about meeting my parents and siblings?" Keith rolled his eyes fondly at the mirth in his expression. "I find that hard to believe."

"Your family is important," he repeated. "And we all know I'm not the best at first impressions or new people. Plus I can't really remember the last time that I sat down and had a meal with my whole family at the table."

That hadn't gotten a response from Lance, so Keith had to look up to see the sadness and regret on his boyfriend's face.

"I don't think any less of you because your parents aren't around anymore." Despite the sadness in Lance's eyes, he said it with a certain firmity and confidence.

"I know you don't."

"And neither will my family. They are genuinely really excited to meet you."

"I'm excited to meet them too. Terrified, but excited. I promise."

"I was scared to meet Shiro the first time as your boyfriend too. I mean, it's a lot less people I have to impress, but if I didn't get on his good side that meant your whole family hated me."

Keith couldn't help but laugh at that. "Shiro really likes you."

"I'd hope so! I made him spaghetti!"

Keith laughed again, he doesn't think he's laughed more ever in front of someone than he had with Lance. His anxiety practically dissipated and dissolved just by being in his presence.

"Seriously though," Lance said, putting his hand on Keith's knee under the table. "You're going to be fine. They're going to love you, I know it."

Keith let out a long exhale through his nose and decided to fully trust Lance on that.

"Okay."

"Okay," he grinned as he leaned forward and whispered, "Maybe okay can be our always," next to his ear. Keith laughed and shoved his head away.

"You're such a fucking book nerd."

"Yeah, but you like it," he grinned smugly, nose scrunching up in the adorable way it did when he knew he was right. His breath against Keith's neck caused a zing to travel across his skin. So strong and present he even felt it even when Lance leaned back in his chair.

"Also, not to get into your business and stuff, but as your boyfriend I feel the need to put my input in..." Keith frowned, suddenly worried about what he was going to say. "I personally think you should give this Adam guy a chance. If your brother is giving him another chance it means he's really important. And I know you don't want to see Shiro get hurt, but you should at least give him the chance to be happy. He definitely deserves it."

 _Goddammit_ _, when did Lance get so wise and all knowing when it came to pulling his heart strings?_

"Yeah. Yeah I should." It came off his tongue awkwardly, not quite feeling it but ready to try.

Lance could obviously see that. The zings over his touch turned to zaps as Lance leaned forward to press a cheeky peck to his lips, ignoring their nosy club members who watched the exchange.

Fuck.

Fuck Shiro was right; Keith was definitely in love.

* * *

It was late when Shiro came home from his shift, but Keith had only gotten home half an hour before he did and decided to wait so he could talk to him.

Shiro straightened up, surprised to see him awake or not hiding away in his room. He smiled. "You're up late," he said, putting all his work stuff on the table, already looking lighter without it.

"Yeah. So... uh..." Shiro's brows scrunched together as he noticed Keith's struggle. He stayed quiet and let him think through his thoughts before he spoke, knowing Keith sometimes just needed the extra time to be able to think of the best way to articulate himself.

"So since I don't get to meet him this weekend, when do I get to meet Adam?" Unable to help it, he tapped his fingers against the wooden dining room table as he waited for a response. It took a few seconds for Shiro to click out of his surprise, easily turning his lips up into a smile.

"I'll ask him when he's free."

Keith nodded slowly. "Sounds good." It's sticking in his throat, but he knew he needed to do this if you wanted to see Shiro happy.

Shiro really deserved to be happy more than anyone he knew. If Adam made him happy, then Keith was just going to have to put his worries aside.

Shiro deserved it.

And who knows? Maybe Adam will grow on him...

Maybe. 


	2. So We're Shooting Lasers Now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back :D

Even as he swung through the city, wind loud in his ears, he could still hear Pidge laughing at him.

“Pidge, I swear to god, if you make one more joke about me potentially fucking up my relationship with the Lance because I’m going to embarrass myself in front of his family, I’m going to turn the communication device off.”

“Trust me, I’m trying but it’s _really_ hard,” she snickered. “I just keep imagining all the dumb things that you could say and it cracks me up. Try not to bring up the fact you wanna snatch their little boy’s V-Card.”

“You’re the worst,” he said as he jumped on top of some big company’s building. Overlooking the massive drop over the edge he focused on the people. His eyesight was killer these days. To think that he had practically been blind without the aid of his glasses at the beginning of last summer was insane.

“Yeah, but you’re still friends with me anyway.”

Well he couldn’t fight that.

A sizzle went up Keith’s spine, making him squint his eyes. He frowned, wondering why his senses were kicking up a fuss if there was nothing close by. Deciding to get a closer look he jumped, falling down on one of the lower buildings and landing with a roll.

There was a buzzing on the other end of the line. “Hang on, someone is trying to call me... It’s Lance?”

Keith hummed in assurance that he heard what she said, he was too busy focusing. At this height it was easier to look at the street he was hovering over. He still couldn’t see anything amiss.

“Hey. We have a problem.”

“What’s up?”

“I don’t know. Lance is freaking out and I can’t tell what he’s saying. Just get your ass over to Central Park.”

His brain didn’t even consider asking what was going on because he was already turning in the direction he knew he had to go and making a mad dash.

“Is he okay?” Keith asked as he dropped off the building and took a big swoop, letting the momentum build up for his next swing.

“I think he might’ve dropped his phone. There is a lot of yelling in the background though.”

Being Spider-Man was a supposedly fearful task. Fighting bad guys, whatever. But Keith was in another league than most of them, so really these days he didn’t fear the people he came up against. It was uncontrollable stuff that scared him, to not being able to stop something bad if he messed up, if he wasn’t fast enough.

Picking up speed he speared through the air, wind whistling as he dove and wove through buildings and traffic. “Any word on Lance?”

“He just picked up his phone, he’s okay, but something is going on down there.”

“Like what?” Keith asked as he whipped around a corner.

“Something about flying robots?” There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I swear Lance if this is a ploy to get your boyfriend to come hang out with you I’m going to snap your neck!”

Lowering his web he was able to swiftly enter Central Park, greeted by the screeching of people and the buzzing of what he assumed were flying robots.

Swinging into the thick of it, the yelling guided him to where the chaos began.

The buzz was louder, more distinct and robotic, like a motor. People ran around him in the midst of the panic, holding their hands over their heads as they sprinted away to safety in the bushes. Looking up, Keith finally spotted what had everyone in such a frightened state.

They almost looked like those remote control drones that you would buy in a shop. Yet they were a little bit less sleek looking, with an off white colour and a red flashing button that shot out lines of lasers. The red line of the lasers scorched the earth and trees as they bounced around.

There were probably ten of them buzzing around like mosquitoes. Shooting sporadically.

“What the hell,” Keith said before turning on his voice disguise as some people flooded around him, shaking his shoulders and pointing in the direction of the robots like he couldn’t see them for himself. After quick reassurance he directed them to head somewhere safer.

He then spoke to Pidge.

“Someone sent a pack of drones with lasers.”

“No way! _lasers?”_

“Not the time to geek out. If someone gets hit by one of those things they could get seriously hurt.” As he said that he shot a web, missing the robot as it dodged out of the way.

“I missed…” He said in low disbelief. He didn’t miss often. Shaking away his shock, he continued to speak. “How is someone controlling them all at once?”

“It could be motion sensored. If it is, good luck with that.”

“I’m gonna get closer.” Using a tree as a stepladder he hid in the leaves, watching them. He gave it a second, observing them and seeing how they functioned. There seemed to be no particular movement pattern, but the one thing that was for certain was that they were shit if the intention was to hurt people. From what he’d seen, nobody had been hit.

His movements and observation period got sped up when he noticed Lance behind one of the trees with Hunk. He moved even faster when he realised how close one of those robots was to them.

Shit at hitting people or not, Keith wasn’t risking his boyfriend or friend.

Shooting out a web from the bush he grinned as it connected to the tiny machine. It tugged, attempting to free itself like a fish on a hook. Before it could get away, Keith swung his web around until it smashed into a tree, shattering it instantly. The red light died.

Another one approached him too soon to be able to ask if either of his friends were okay. This time the robot zoomed straight for him, which was weird considering he hadn’t seen it do that to anyone else. If anything, they had been keeping their distance.

He shot a web, which connected as his senses picked up another one buzzing behind him. Like a lasso, he spun the first robot around until it smashed into the one behind him, dulling the red flashing lights.

People were shouting. Keith was pretty sure they were cheering, but he couldn’t celebrate the small victories yet. Especially not with more moving towards him.

Two came at him from the outer corners of his peripheral. Shooting both his web shooters at once he connected the web with both the robots before he jumped in the air. The bounce gave him more _oomph_ as he smashed the machinery down to the ground.

More popped up, but he dismembered them with ease.

These things were either poorly made or suspiciously too simple.

The last one approached him, buzzing left to right in front of him like a persistent bug. Before he could grab it, the light of the robot started to fade, dropping to the ground right at his feet.

“Pick it up!” He heard Pidge say. “If I can look at it from the inside I might be able to figure out who made it.”

“Good idea,” he said and grabbed it, holding underneath his armpit.

Looking up and out of his daydream moment with Pidge he saw people begin to crowd around him. Some smiled excitedly, some taking videos for their socials and others were just staring in awe.

“No one was hurt, right?” Keith asked and everyone who was there nodded or shouted out the response.

His eyes skirted to the corner where he saw Lance and Hunk. His boyfriend gave him a discrete thumbs up to let him know he was okay which allowed Keith to finally let go of his breath. Relaxing just a little as more people crowded around him asking for a selfie.

* * *

As soon as Keith went and changed out of his suit, he put the strange drone-like robot into his backpack so he could walk over to Pidge’s house.

When he arrived he was welcomed by Colleen, Pidge’s overcompensating, lovely mother. The two had nothing in common with one another than their tufts of short brown hair and brilliant minds.

He took the cookie she offered to him and walked to Pidge’s room. Closing the door behind him for privacy as he then opened his backpack, turning it upside down so the robot landed on her bed.

Without a word, Pidge swung around on her desk chair, scooted out across the panel floor until it reached her bed so she was close enough to grab it. There was no need to go over pleasantries.

Her brows scrunched together as she turned the drone over in her hands. “Well it’s definitely not manufactured. It’s home-made.”

“So what? There’s just some psycho out there making laser shooting robots that terrorise people in their basement?”

Pidge adjusted her glasses before leaning down so she could pull out her toolbox from underneath her bed.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” she said as she began to sort through all the screwdrivers. “I mean, these things are structured so well. Plus nobody was actually hit by the lasers.”

“So it means it has bad aim.”

“Or it means that it has very good aim.”

Now it was Keith’s turn to be confused. “But it missed?”

“Exactly. You said they were reacting to motion, right? If that was the case then it would’ve hit someone eventually, even if it was just by accident.”

“So what are you implying? That it was made to _not_ hit people or anything moving?”

Her hands were busy with screwing and unscrewing as well as there being a screwdriver in her mouth so she just shrugged.

“Why would somebody want to cause chaos like that?”

She spat the screwdriver so it landed on her lap. “Maybe just to do that. Cause chaos. Maybe they were just trying to get media attention, or…”

“Or?” He prompted.

“Or maybe they were just trying to get _Spider-Man’s_ attention.” Before Keith could even get a word out to deny such a thing, she began speaking. “Think about it. There is no actual way to contact Spider-Man other than to get him to go to a scene. Not even the police have a way to speak to him.”

“So a psycho is trying to pick a fight?”

She began to twist one of the screws. “Potentially. Or they want your help.”

“Well if they think I’m going to help them after frying half of Central Park they’re a fucking dumbass.”

There was a click as Pidge twisted the screwdriver anticlockwise and the bottom of the robot came off. Fiddling around Pidge did her magic and after a moment of tinkering pulled out a blue microchip.

“The potential this has any information on how we can find our drone driver is low, but if it’s there, I’m definitely going to be able to find it. Robots are my specialty afterall.” She spun around on her chair and dragged herself across the floor to her desk and opened her laptop. Sticking in the chip, a big screen of green neon letters came up in a coding language Keith didn’t understand.

“Give me half an hour.”

It’s moments like this that Keith is reminded how much of a genius his friend really was.

Keith laid himself on Pidge’s single bed, staring up at the ceiling, giving her peace and quiet until there was a vibration in his pocket. Pulling out his phone he was quick to answer as he saw Lance's ID picture which was him pulling a peace sign with an ice cream cone and half of Keith's face beside him.

“Lance, are you okay?” He couldn’t help but sound a little frantic despite already knowing that he was okay.

“Yeah, both Hunk and I are fine. Are you?”

It didn’t matter how much radioactive blood Keith had in his system, Lance still always asked.

“Yeah I’m fine.”

“Do you guys have any idea who the hell would do something like that?”

Keith glanced over to the screen of Pidge’s laptop.

“Maybe. We’re trying to figure out how we can track them down.”

There was an ounce of hesitation of silence on the other end then a rustle of movement. “Okay… Please don’t do anything stupid though. I would really like my man to be in one piece to meet my family.”

Keith smiled at the reminder. “I’ll do my best. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“I’m serious though, don’t do anything dumb.”

The noise of Pidge’s desk chair turning caught Keith attention. She gave him a look which warranted his attention.

“I won’t. Look, I really have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“At six,” Lance reminded him.

“At six,” Keith promised before hanging up the phone. “I’m guessing you either hit a wall or have got good news?”

“I don’t know if you would consider it good, but I confirmed my theory of whoever this is wants your attention.” She slid out of the way so that Keith could see her screen from the bed. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the message in bright neon green letters.

 **_Hello Spider-Man,  
_ ** **_Meet @ Address attached to chip  
_ ** **_12 Midnight, Tonight  
_ ** ******_Sincerely, P.M_**

* * *

“So Keith’s just going to go meet this scary robot making person at midnight?” Lance said, glancing from both Pidge to Keith. “How do we know this isn’t a trap and they have like 100 people with 100 guns. And sorry babe, I don’t care how much radioactive blood you have, but there is _no way_ you could win that fight.”

“That’s why he’s not going in alone,” she said pointing to the spider symbol on Keith’s chest. “There’s a microscopic camera that can give us a live feed to what’s going on. We are going to be right there. If something goes wrong then we call the police.”

“That’s going to be of no help to Keith if he gets hurt in between the time it takes to call the police and for them to arrive,” Lance said as he paced Keith's bedroom.

To stop him, Keith put his hands on either side of Lance’s shoulders. “I’m going to be fine. If I’m outnumbered I’ll just find a way to escape. I won’t do anything dumb.”

“You better not,” Pidge muttered. “I don’t want to be the one to tell Shiro that his darling little brother is Spider-Man if something happens. He will kill us all for being so negligent.”

Keith scoffed and turned back to Lance who had a small frown on his face. “It’s gonna be fine. I promise not to do anything brash.”

Lance put his forehead down to Keith’s shoulder and sighed. “ _Dios Mios_ , you’re going to give me a heart attack one day.”

“Well join the club,” Pidge said. “I’ve been dealing with this idiot for years. He doesn’t change. But besides that, I have the location up on the GPS. It looks like the location is in the middle of the city.”

Keith looked to the clock on his wall. 11:26pm.

Pulling the mask over his head he then went to open the window. “I’ll go early, scout out the area and make sure it’s legit. We still don’t know who we’re dealing with. Shiro’s shift doesn’t finish until 4 am. I doubt I’m gonna be any later than that, but if I am, just lock the door or something.”

“You seriously don’t think you’re going to be any more than four hours, do you?” Lance asked.

“I don’t think I will be, but just in case.” He couldn’t help but feel a little sad when he watched Lance deflate.

“I’ll be back soon. There’s leftover pizza in the fridge if you guys get hungry.” He fully opened the window and crawled out until he was in a safe position to shoot a web, swinging himself into the night sky.

* * *

The address led to a youth counselling centre. Something like Alcoholics Anonymous would probably be hosted here or those camps for children while their parents are at work during the summer. He scoped out the perimeter first, his senses not agitating even once. It was a good sign that nobody was watching him or close by.

“It’s all clear,” Keith whispered. “What’s the time?”

“Midnight on the dot,” Pidge’s voice came through.

“How’s everything on your end?”

“Lance hasn’t stopped pacing or chewing his nails, which is really distracting, but otherwise we are good.” Keith heard the sound of an offended Lance in the background audio, he couldn’t quite place whatever he was saying though.

“Okay, I’m going in then.”

He went through one of the windows, deciding against nature to go through the door and sneaking his way in. The room was lit. Inside a single man sat, scrolling through his phone. Keith observed him from the top corner of the building, watching to see if he made any attempts to contact anyone.

He crawled down the wall in the shadows, only allowing himself to be seen when he stepped off the wall and onto the ground.

The man shot to his feet like he had been jolted with an electric shock, eyes wide behind framed glasses. He looked towards the door, either wondering why he hadn’t heard it open upon his arrival, or was planning his escape route.

“You came.” He straightened his posture and smiled like he was an old friend, not a psychopath who sent laser shooting robots out on citizens. “I wasn’t sure if you had gotten my message or not.”

“It was kind of hard to miss,” Keith said solidly as he approached the man. He looked like the intellect type. Maybe the type to create crazy, laser shooting robots. Not the type to be able to take Keith on in a fight and win though. “I’m here, so tell me why I shouldn’t web you to the wall and call the police?”

“Right,” the man said. “Maybe it would make more sense if I introduced myself. My name is Professor Michaels.”

There was a gasp from the other end of the communication device from Pidge.

“Keith, that’s–”

“For a couple of years I worked at Galra Laboratory’s. Working on animal, human hybrid DNA modifications.”

“Oh god, no way...” Pidge whispered under her breath, silent until she _‘shh’d’_ at Lance in the background who was most likely panicking.

He remembered visiting Galra Labs the day he was bitten. Pidge and him snuck into a professor's research room that had disappeared without a trace. He was experimenting on animals, insects as well. The spider in that very Lab is what bit him and made him who he was today.

“Deny it you idiot!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. How is this relevant?” Keith asked.

It didn’t matter how much confidence he said it with, because Professor Michaels just nodded and continued. “I think you might. I was commissioned, let’s say, to speed up the process of DNA hybrids. Modifying human DNA to improve human structure. Specifically with how our bodies react to disease.”

The professor began to walk around the room, but didn't dare take a step closer to him.

“I tried a lot of varying DNA strands. Mice, lizards, bugs _._ ” He paused, putting his hands behind his back. “Spiders have been around for a long time. Tens of thousands of years. Why? They knew how to adapt, they knew what they needed to be stronger and to survive.”

“Due to… _conflict,_ I left Galran Labs. Only coming back to New York City when I saw what had happened with the bus. The footage was… unreal. It was exactly what my research was leaning towards.”

Keith remembered Matt, Pidge’s brother, mentioning Professor Michaels disappearance. That he just disappeared from work one day and didn’t come back.

“Why did you leave?”

The professor paused with his back facing him. It was almost an act of dominance, like he knew Keith wouldn’t attack him in the vulnerable state. Bold move.

“That… That’s something I can explain when you agree to work with me.”

“Oh _hell no!_ ” Pidge’s voice shot through the communication device.

Keith decided to ignore her.

“Why should I work with you? A few hours ago you were sending killer robots out to shoot lasers at people.”

“They were designed to not hit any moving object. No one was in any actual real danger. I just wanted to get your attention.”

_So Pidge’s deductions were correct._

“Why would I want, or even need your help?” He asked, trying to bait as much information he could out of the Professor.

“Well I essentially created you. You wouldn’t have your powers if it weren’t for my spider. Imagine what else I can do for you? And I don’t mean in the sense of messing with your DNA. I don’t do that anymore. I’m talking about technology. Updating your suit, gadgets, anything you need or want I can do for you.”

“I’ll pass,” he said, making a turn so he could get out there.

“Wait! I need your help!” He called out as Keith took the first step. His voice was desperate. “Isn’t that your whole thing? Helping people? I know you don’t owe me anything just because I created the spider. But don’t you want to know _why_ the spiders were created?”

That managed to bring Keith's feet to a halt.

“Careful,” Pidge warned him inside his ear. “Don’t let him get inside your head.”

But he couldn’t help but need to know. If Professor Michaels hadn't created the spiders, Keith would still be the same person he was. That nerdy guy with the terrible asthma and unflattering glasses.

He wouldn’t be with Lance.

He would still be a nobody.

Slowly, Keith turned around so he could face the professor who exhaled audibly in relief and then continued to speak.

“I was approached by the CEO of Galran Labs. Are you aware of Zarkon Harrison?”

He was. Zarkon was probably one of the richest people in the city, maybe even the country.

“Mr Harrison has always had an interest in finding _the next best thing_. Being a part of the invention that would change the world. A lot of it was money fuelled, maybe even power. What he asked me for was not for the sake of money or power.”

“I specialised in biology and zoology. I was doing research for one of my classes on using animal DNA to enhance our own. You know in dogs they like to mix different breeds to cancel out imperfections? Breeds with breathing problems due to its facial structure for example. Get it to mate with the dog that doesn’t have breathing problems and then the litter will be born without breathing problems. It’s all about evolution.”

Professor Michaels sat down on one of the open chairs, eyes glued to his lap.

“Zarkon’s wife was sick. It all started with trying to develop a certain DNA structure by using animals and insects and even plants to rewire her. To get her own body to fight back against her disease. She was running out of time, so he started to push me. Took some of my research and started trialling on her himself.”

Professor Michaels looked up at him, there was regret in his eyes.

“It cured her, sure. But it wasn’t ready for human trials. Wasn’t even close. It… changed her.”

“Changed her how?”

“Caused major psychological implications. But we saw an increase in her physical capabilities. But she wasn’t… stable. But Zarkon didn’t care about that. Once we realised what my research could do, he wanted me to continue my work so that he could sell the findings, make something that had been created for good, and make it evil.”

“No way,” Pidge’s voice spoke in his ear. “He wanted him to create a weapon.”

At her explanation it finally clicked into his head and made Keith tense up. “They wanted to weaponise it, didn’t they?”

Professor Michael sighed. “Yes. When I figured out what he was doing I packed up everything I could and escaped. Well, I thought I packed up everything.” His eyes lifted back up to Keith. “To be quite frank, when I heard of you I wanted to make sure that I hadn’t created another monster like Mrs Harrison, Honerva.”

It’s a sudden realisation that hits him. Zarkon Harrison‘s wife went insane because her body rejected the change in DNA. Did that mean his body would eventually reject it too?”

“I could… Have you noticed any change?”

“If you’re asking me if I’ve lost my marbles, the answer is no.”

He saw the man take another deep breath of relief. “Thank goodness.” He lifted his head looking like a man who was guilt ridden by his own creation. “It’s only going to be a matter of time before his wife succumbs to her insanity and dies. Or comes out of whatever hiding she is in and causes havoc. She’s like you, The strength, the abilities. Just that she doesn’t have any morals to keep her from doing something horrendous.”

That sent a cold shiver down his spine. So far Keith had been up against criminals that weren’t even close to being in the same league as him. What if he actually had to come up against this woman?

“Thank you for the information,” Keith said, voice steely. He wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

Professor Michaels stood up and reached into his pocket. The only reason Keith didn’t assume he had a weapon was because his senses didn’t click. He pulled out a small business card and handed it to him.

“If there is anyone who knows what’s going on with your body, it’s me. I’d like you to have this so if you need me, or need help accessing information on Mrs Harrison I will happily oblige. I’m happy to know that one of my creations has done so much good. It allows me to rest a little easier at night.”

Keith stayed quiet and let the man walk past him and out of the room.

He certainly had a lot to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the plot THICKENSSSSSSS  
> see you next week ;D


	3. McClain Junior

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELCOME BACK!!! I hope you have had a fabulous week and are ready for some more spidey-klance!!!!!!!!!!!!

“What are you going to do?” Lance asked from across the table at the diner.

They hadn’t organised to come here to talk about the whole ‘Professor Michaels’ situation, but since Hunk was running late to their group meetup, the topic couldn’t be avoided.

“What do you mean?” Pidge cut in. “There is no way in hell he’s actually considering trusting this guy, right?”

His best friend and boyfriend both looked at him at the same time. At the attention and demand for answers his shoulders raised up feeling an uncomfortable urge to scream.

“I have no idea. You heard what he said. Zarkon’s wife is a ticking time bomb. Michaels _has_ the information I need to find her.”

“Help her? He rewrote her DNA. There is no coming back from that. Whatever physical and psychological damage has been made, it’s already done. There is no helping that.” She seized up as she realised what she had just said. “You’re different though.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Keith muttered. “Maybe it’s just taking longer for my body to lose it.”

“You’re not going insane Keith,” Lance insisted, tapping his foot against his ankle. For a second it made him believe that maybe Lance was right.

The other part was terrified.

“We don’t even know if Professor Michaels’ story even cuts out. Who knows? Maybe _he’s_ the insane one. Maybe he’s making it all up and working for Zarkon?”

Him and Pidge had spent a good chunk of the day researching him: Professor Michaels. There wasn’t a lot. They researched Zarkon’s wife as well, who had also been a scientist. None of the articles were recent.

“Either way, we can’t take this lightly. Maybe Professor Michaels is telling the truth, maybe he is a complete psychopath. Maybe we are getting half the story. We just have to be careful. If he is on the same level of brilliance as my dad considering he’s working for Galran Labs…” Pidge trailed off. “There’s a good chance he could be playing us.”

“Or be an asset,” Lance added. “He sounded like he wanted to help, to right his wrong or whatever.”

“He also sent a bunch of robots out to laser people.”

“To get Keith’s attention, which did its job, didn’t it? Wouldn’t it be good if we were able to get his help? It’s not like he has to know Keith’s identity.”

Pidge scoffed. “Yeah, because the last time Keith tried to keep his Spider-Man identity from someone worked out _really_ well.”

“Alright guys, let’s just take a breather,” Keith murmured as he leaned back into the leather booth they were sitting in. “We don’t have to make any decisions yet.” He twirled the business card the Professor had given him around his fingers before shoving into his pocket.

When he lifted his eyes he saw Hunk was running over to the table. Looks like their chat was over for now. “Hey guys! Sorry if I’m late!”

“No worries buddy, you’re just on time!” Lance grinned at his friend, quick to be able to flip out of the serious conversation they were having only seconds prior. Pidge took a few moments longer.

It didn't take long for everyone to fall in easy, every day teen conversation. Keith let it distract him, but not naively throw their situation to the back of his mind. The question was still humming.

What the hell was he going to do now? Because it was very apparent that Pidge and Lance had two different opinions on it.

Keith decided to take his own answer for now. He could make his decision later.

* * *

“I know you’re super distracted with what happened with Professor Michaels,” Lance said as Keith walked him to his bus stop after having lunch with their friends. “So if you’re not up for dinner with my family tonight I can understand if you don’t –”

“I still want to meet your family Lance,” he cut Lance off his ramble before he went into word vomit territory. “I know it’s a lot, but this is not going to control my life. I don’t need to make a decision now.”

“Right, that’s great,” he said, grabbing Keith’s hand and squeezing it between both of his. He was smiling, but it slowed down after a moment. “But I know it’s a lot to take in right now. And my family are a lot to take in at any time. I’m not going to be mad if it’s all too much.”

Keith couldn’t help the smile that rose to his lips. He grabbed at Lance's jacket to pull him and closer to his side as they walked, arm going around his shoulders.

Lance just always knew the right thing to say.

“I’m excited to meet your family. They’re important to you. Plus isn’t Sylvio a huge Spider-Man fan?”

“The biggest,” Lance grinned. “Too bad he will never know that I am the best uncle purely because I’m dating his biggest hero. I mean, I'm definitely the best uncle _anyway_ , but still.”

“Well I’ll get to see that in action tonight.”

“Hell yeah you will.” He pressed a chaste kiss to the corner of Keith's mouth. “Thanks, it actually means a lot to me that you want to meet them.”

“It’s okay. You met Shiro months ago. I want to meet yours too. I hope they like me.”

“There is literally not a single thing that they would be able to find to not like about you,” Lance said, squeezing his hand. “You’re a good guy, they're going to see that. It’s more than likely that my mama is going to want to adopt you the second you walk in the door.”

They had a quiet laugh about it before something popped up in his mind.

“Did you… tell them about my parents?”

He wasn’t sure what Lance would’ve told them. Lance knew how both of his parents had died, but they didn’t speak about it. It still felt too raw to talk about, especially his mother’s death which had almost been four years ago. Not even him and Shiro spoke about it.

“Yeah,” Lance said quietly. “I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t go too into details, but I didn’t want them to bother you with questions and make you uncomfortable.”

They arrived at Lance’s bus stop that would go to his house so they could get ready separately for dinner.

“No, that’s fine. It’s probably for the best. I wouldn’t want to depress the table,” he said with a low chuckle as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

Lance gave him a ghost of a smile, a soft curve of the lips that held little happiness when his eyes looked sad. Keith could tell his boyfriend found it hard to relate to him on that level. He’s always had his big, happy family there for him, of course he didn’t know quite where to tread when it came to losing his parents.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Lance asked, feet shuffling awkwardly as he averted his eyes from Keith’s. “I don’t want you to get mad or defensive or think that I’m mad at her but –”

“Yeah?”

“Does Pidge…” His nose twisted. “Does Pidge not like me? She just seemed real… Not happy with me today. Like I was being annoying.”

Keith exhaled through his nose.

When he first started pining over Lance the last thing he would’ve assumed about him was that he was insecure. It still jarred Keith a little, but he could tell he was slowly getting better at assurance.

“It’s… it’s not that. She likes you, I promise. It’s just when she gets caught up in an idea she's stubborn. She is really against the idea of me going to Michaels, but I think that’s because she’s scared.”

“And what do you think?” Lance asked.

“I think…” He groaned, tilting his head away to look away from his boyfriend's curious eyes. “I think that I don’t know what to think. I’m not sure if we could trust him. But after what he said about Mr Harrison‘s wife? If she's really as bad as he says she is, I don’t want her out in the public. To think she’s just like me...”

“Your no monster Keith,” Lance promised, stepping into his space and nudging their noses together, making them both giggle. “From what I’ve seen, you’re still the exact same guy I knew last year.”

His breath was warm against his face, and Keith swore he could feel the air move that followed Lance’s lashes with each blink.

“You’re just a hell of a lot more gunned up,” he smirked, giving Keith’s bicep a quick squeeze through his jacket. Keith scoffed, turning his head to hide how his cheeks went pink.

“You’re ridiculous,” he muttered, trying to ignore the sneaky laughter from Lance's lips.

“You like me though.”

_I actually love you._

Lance grinned before leaning in to give him one, two, three kisses to the lips. Warmth spread him, destroying the tension.

“Blushy Boy,” Lance snickered near his ear, laughing more as he felt Keith’s cheeks heat up even more over the breath near his ear.

“Your bus is coming,” he murmured as he sensed the ground rumbling from around the corner. Lance detached himself from the rather affectionate hold.

“I guess I’ll see you later then.” He was still grinning ear to ear, probably at seeing Keith’s lost chill in all its glory. “I’m really excited for you to meet my family. It means a lot to me, really,” he repeated and placed another kiss to his nose before turning with a cutesy little wave as he stepped on the bus.

Keith took a deep breath of fresh air to hopefully cool him down from Lance’s affections as he then began to walk home.

* * *

“Should I be expecting you to come home tonight?” Shiro asked as Keith tied the shoelaces of his black converses. Keith paused mid knot and gave his brother a disapproving expression. “What? Maybe you want to have a sleepover.”

“There is no way in hell Mrs McClain would let me stay the night in Lance's room. She’d cut our dicks off.”

“I was just wondering. And I also wasn’t implying you sleeping in the same bed. They would have a couch or a spare bed in their house I’m sure.”

Keith finished the knot and looked up at his brother who stood a few metres away from him.

“Is this your way of politely requesting me to stay out of the house tonight so your boyfriend can come over?”

“What?” His voice went suspiciously high. “No! I would never –”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I’m not staying at Lance’s. But go ahead if you want to invite Adam.”

Yes, he was trying to make an effort. He was going to have to do it sooner or later.

It was all for Shiro’s happiness after all.

His eyes lit up. _“Really?”_

Keith shrugged. “Sure. As long as I don’t have to see or hear anything gross.”

He watched his brother's face go red. _Huh_ , no wonder Shiro loved to make fun of him all the time with Lance. It was pretty hilarious to watch his brother get all flustered.

“You won’t!”

“I better hope I don’t.” He stood up from the floor and checked his phone. “I really gotta go otherwise I’m going to be late and Lance will be at my throat because his mother has this thing about punctuality.” He looked up to his brother. “I’ll see you tonight?”

“You’ll see both Adam and I.”

He forced a smile. The least he could do was look happy for him. “Can’t wait.”

“Good luck Keith. But don’t worry, if Lance likes you, I’m sure his family are going to feel the same way.”

Keith nodded to show he had listened and appreciated that encouragement before he turned around and walked out the door.

* * *

Keith's hands were so sweaty that when he pressed the doorbell his finger slipped. It’s pretty gross to think about, but it’s a strong indication of how nervous he was.

As he heard the heavy footsteps and shouting from inside he made sure to wipe the dampness onto his pants. He was probably going to have to shake hands with a few people tonight. He didn’t want to be all gross.

As the thumping of loud footsteps and voices behind the door got louder, he retracted his hand from his jeans. There were a few male voices, Lance’s amongst them, and also female voices in the midst as well. They must’ve been talking rather loud because he could hear them despite the door still being closed.

Suddenly the door was no longer closed and swung wide open. Lance was there with a big grin and pink cheeks, speaking out a breathless, “you’re here… early.”

“You told me that your mother didn’t like people being late for dinner so…” They stared at each other for a few long moments, both obviously a little nervous. Tonight was both a first for them. Lance had never introduced a boyfriend or girlfriend to his parents before, and Keith had never met a boyfriend's family. It was a night of uncertainty.

Amongst the uncertainty there was also excitement. Although it sounded childish to point out, it felt so _grown-up_ , so serious to be meeting the family. Keith guessed by now that they kind of _were_ serious.

Serious enough for Keith to know that he was in love, at least.

Was Lance in love with him too?

“Come inside! You have to do the whole rounds of the family so you can properly meet everyone,” he said in quick concession, grabbing his hand and dragging him inside.

The second he was in Lance’s home, Keith noticed that around the entrance a young girl was peeking her head around the corner.

Ever since he had known Lance he had drilled in as much information about him as he could into his head. That included his family tree. So he was almost 100% certain that the little girl in front of him was his brother Luis’s daughter; Nadia. Lance had mentioned she had turned five a couple of weeks ago, she looked around that age.

“Hey Nads,” Lance smiled. “Want to be the first one to meet Keith?” The little girl who looked timid instantly turned bubbly and confident as she giggled and bounced (literally, like she was a kangaroo) and stood in front of them with a big grin.

“Hello! My name is Nadia!”

“Hey Nadia, I’ve heard lots about you from your uncle. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“ _Tìo_ ,” she corrected him.

“Right, _Tìo_ , _”_ he reworded with a laugh. She grinned even more and took Lance’s free hand.

“We need to go introduce Keith!”

Both the teens laughed a little at her authoritative tone. “Lead the way Nads!”

With a tug, Nadia dragged them through the house in an almost Congo line style. Lance’s home had an endlessly warm ambiance to it. There were pictures on the walls and accomplishments in the form of medals, trophies and certificates, stacked and broadcasted on its own personal shelf. It felt so ultimately homie. Not the Keith’s house didn’t feel like that, it just felt… more complete here. Not so broken.

Nadia pulled them out into the living room to where some of the McClain’s were scattered around, talking loudly and laughing. As they entered the room they all turned in his direction, making him freeze up in the spot he was standing.

So many eyes were on him.

Keith wasn’t sure what he expected when he entered this household or how he would be greeted. But he really hadn't expected the whole family to cheer like someone had scored a point like a sports spectator.

Lance also seemed surprised by the greeting, gripping onto Keith's hand and jumping backwards, almost slamming into him as he went.

“The hell?” Lance breathed out, hand going to his heart as if he was seconds away from having a heart attack.

Nadia ran to a big guy who picked her up with a big grin on his face. Keith assumed by the expression alone he was Luis, Lance’s oldest brother.

“We are just excited that Keith is actually real. I was starting to think you made him up in a sad attempt to prove us wrong.”

“To prove what you wrong of what, exactly?” Lance asked.

“That someone would actually want to date you,” he teased making his daughter and a few of Lance’s siblings snicker. Lance however narrowed his eyes at his brother and lifted and Keith's conjoined hands.

“Well look! He’s real! He likes me!”

Keith’s whole face heated at the bluntness in his words and the fact that his siblings were laughing. Another one of Lance's brothers - Marco - walked across the room and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, giving him a deadly serious expression.

“If Lance is holding you captive against your will, blink twice.”

 _“Hey!”_ Lance exasperated and smacked his brother who was cackling at his own joke.

“Stop bullying your little brother,” Lance's father said with a full smile as he came to shake Keith’s hand. Thank god he dried them before. “Nice to meet you kid.”

“You too,” he managed to speak out but it felt thick in his throat.

“We are not bullying him, we're just expressing our surprise because who would’ve thought that Little MJ would have a boyfriend!” Marco said, ruffling Lance’s hair.

Keith gave his boyfriend a confused expression.

“MJ,” a sister said, speaking up for the first time as she walked closer to him. “McClain Junior. He is the youngest so it was kind of his nickname growing up. Nice to meet you by the way.”

Keith smiled, knowing instantly that this was Veronica.

“I don’t even get why I’m still getting called MJ. I’m not the youngest McClain anymore,” Lance said, pointedly looking at his young niece.

“You’re always going to be the baby of the family Lancey. Don’t fight it,” Veronica grinned. “Mama and Rachel are in the kitchen by the way if you want to go say hi to them.”

“Will do. Anything to get away from these dofusses,” Lance said, glaring at both of his brothers who just snickered.

They walked over to the kitchen. The strong aroma of spices smelled absolutely incredible.

Shiro couldn’t cook to save himself, so if they ever wanted a home cooked meal it was always Keith doing the cooking. He could do it, sure, but his cooking never smelt anywhere near as good as this.

As they entered the kitchen a girl with dark hair spun around and Keith instantly recognised her. Rachel. Keith had actually met this girl before in brief moments at school. She had graduated from their high school the previous year.

She caught sight of him and took a double take.

“What the _heck_ happened to you?” She said, taking a step forward with wide eyes. “Is this seriously the same guy I met last year?”

Oh, right. Of course Rachel hadn’t seen him since the spider bite.

“Yes it’s the same Keith,” Lance grumbled. His sister let out a surprise to laugh.

“Well holy damn, congratulations on whatever the hell you’re doing to look like that.”

 _“Rachel!_ ” Lance hissed.

“You were like there’s an _iddy biddy_ baby and now you’re like hunky funky _wow wee!”_

This prompted Lance's mother to smack his daughter with a towel, talking to her in Spanish in exasperated expression. Once done scolding her daughter, Lance’s mother turned around and offered Keith a warm smile.

“Don’t mind my daughter's terrible manners. It’s so lovely to be able to speak with you properly Keith! I hope you enjoy dinner, if not I’m sure we can figure something else out for you to eat.”

Lance had always spoken highly of his mother, describing her as an angel. His boyfriend was a total mama's boy, so this woman was probably at the very top of the list of people he needed to get the tick of approval from.

“I’m sure it’s going to taste amazing. It smells incredible.”

She smiled like he was an adorable puppy and came over to wrap him in a hug. Keith hadn’t really expected it, so he tensed up a little. Yet she was warm and somehow felt familiar, despite it being their first proper meeting. The warmth of a mother’s hug, maybe?

“Such a sweet boy!” She cooed as she moved back, looking at her son. “You should’ve brought him here sooner!”

Keith could already tell he was going to love this woman. She was way too sweet.

“Well I would’ve brought him sooner if I wasn’t afraid of _some_ people embarrassing me,” he said giving a dirty look to Rachel and also over his shoulder to where Marco was peering at them through the door.

Mrs McClain cleared her throat and yelled something out in Spanish to her other children replied with ‘ _sí mama’_ and Lance smiling triumphantly like he had won a long battle.

Not too much longer after that dinner was served and Lance was giving him a description of each of the dishes sprawled out across the table. Hunk really hadn’t been kidding around when he said Mrs. McClain knew how to cook up a feast.

It was honestly incredible how much food was there, but considering how big the table was probably made sense to the quantity.

He took his seat and was surprised when Nadia was quick to jump up on the seat next to him and give him a big grin.

“Luis, where is your son?” Lance’s mother, Sophia, asked with her hands going to her hips before she sat down at the table after placing the last dish. “His food is going to get cold and he still hasn’t even met Keith yet.”

Luis gave his mother a thumbs up and walked out of the room, probably to go get his older child.

In that time that Keith was offered a drink of Coke or water to have with his meal. After receiving a cup of water a young boy came running into the room.

Lance grinned at Keith, waiting for his reaction to seeing his nephew wearing a full on Spider-Man costume, mask and all as he sat across from Keith at the table.

“Hey bud, anyone ever tell you that you’re not gonna be able to eat with that mask on?” Rachel asked with a devious grin as she yanked it off his head, revealing the young boy's face.

“Hey!” He whined as the mask was put above his head and out of his reach.

“She’s right Sylvio,” Luis said, fixing his hair so that it wasn’t a crazy mess. “You can’t eat with your mask on. Even Spider-Man has to eat sometime.”

The boy huffed a little and crossed his arms making his family laugh.

Keith can’t help but think about what would’ve happened if he hadn’t been there the day that the bus nearly went off the bridge. Would Sylvio and Nadia still be at this table if he wasn’t there on time? It wasn’t a nice thing to think about, but either way he was glad this family was still together. The table wouldn’t be as bright or bubbly as it was without the two of them there.

“He could probably eat with the mask still on,” Lance added with a grin. “He would just have to pull it off his face a little bit. Keep it half on. Free his mouth.” Keith went red at noticing Lance’s twitch in the lips, knowing he was referring to when he kissed Keith with the mask on.

Sylvio’s face brightened happily but Luis frowned. “I wish you wouldn’t give him ideas like that.”

“Come on you old boring man,” Marco interjected, nudging his older brother with his elbow. “Everyone’s gotta have a hero.”

“Especially ones keeping my son from getting robbed at gunpoint and my grandchildren from falling off bridges,” Lance’s father added with a nod.

Rachel raised her glass with a big grin. “Can we get a _hell yeah_ forSpider-Man, for _one_ , saving our baby McClain’s-”

“I’m not a baby!” Lance whined.

“And two! For choosing the tightest costume possible to bless all of us male loving individuals with that hot bod!”

Keith had to hide his snickers under his hand, while Lance punched his shoulder.

“That is not appropriate dinner talk,” Sophia sighed while dishing up the salads. “We have a guest, and the food is getting cold that I slaved over so time to eat!

The conversation over dinner was diverse and entertaining, always something new brought up and always something to laugh over. It was just so vastly different from what he was used to. Usually it was just him and Shiro and sometimes he wasn’t even there because of how much he worked. But in the McClain household it felt like it could never be a boring or lonesome occasion. It was kind of nice to have a change like this.

There were a lot of questions asked around the table about Keith. Nothing was too invasive though. He was glad he didn’t feel like he was sitting in a pressure cooker of questions. Everything was casual and organic and nothing felt forced or awkward.

Plus, the food was really, really good. No wonder Lance was picky about food and always cooked for him. Keith’s cooking would never be able to compare.

Despite his fears of not getting along with Lance’s family, it was surprisingly easy to talk to them. He shouldn’t be so shocked, his boyfriend was easy-going and kind. He should’ve known that his family was going to be the exact same. It warmed his heart to think of being accepted by them.

Well he _felt_ like he was being accepted, nothing implied he wasn’t.

The night went by quickly. They stayed at the dinner table way after all the food was demolished. Talking about things like the school newspaper, asked about Shiro and what else he was interested in. Lance was there right by his side through the whole thing, giving him smiles for confidence.

It was just _so_ nice.

He really had no idea what he was so scared about and was even thankful for having a couple of hours of fun without the impending fear of Professor Michaels. It saddened him a little when he looked to the clock and realised he’d probably overstayed his welcome and announced he would need to get home.

Just as Lance was about to take Keith to walk him to his car to go home, Sophia touched his shoulder to gain his attention.

“Thank you for coming tonight, it was lovely to meet the boy who makes my son smile all the time.”

“Jeez mama, want to say anything else embarrassing?” Lance added from his spot a few steps away, face a deep red.

Sophia ignored her son and patted Keith cheeks a few times for what felt like the third time that night (he’s pretty sure it’s a thing of endearment from her, he’d seen her do it with Nadia when she finished all her peas). “You are welcome here anytime Keith. You should bring your brother over sometime as well for dinner.”

“Maybe you could teach him a few tips on how to cook. The man can barely boil water.”

Sophia laughed and patted cheeks again (definitely a sign of endearment). “That sounds lovely. You drive home safe now.”

“Thank you,” he said for more than one thing.

He and Lance walked outside, Lance holding his hand as soon as the door closed. There was still that thing of affection in front of other people that they were still getting used to. Keith could tell Lance was a little embarrassed about it in front of his older siblings, knowing that they would stir him up for it.

“Not that I’m surprised or anything,” Lance started as they walked down the path through the flowers of the front garden. “But my family loves you. Mama grabbed your face, which practically means that you are her child now, congratulations.”

They both laughed when he said that, feet stopping just outside of Shiro’s car. It gave Keith a little flashback to when Lance told him he liked him. It really felt like a lifetime ago, but in reality it wasn’t even six months ago.

“I’m glad that I came. It wasn’t as nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be. Your family is really great.” The way that his boyfriend's face blossomed into a bright happy smile made Keith’s heart flutter and swoop.

It intensified as Lance placed his hand around Keith’s neck and started to lean in. He was just halfway to closing his eyes when a loud cheer made both of them jump and turn their heads to the noise.

Lance growled a little under his breath as he saw his siblings piled up in the living room window watching them.

“Go away!” He hissed with the wave of his hand. His brothers and sisters just laughed before letting the curtain fall, giving them back their privacy.

Lance groaned and then put his forehead on Keith’s shoulder. “I am so sorry for how embarrassing they are.”

“Siblings are supposed to be embarrassing,” Keith emphasised and touched the side of Lance's face slightly so that he would raise his eyes.

It’s a soft moment, dim lighting with all these undiscovered feelings swirling around inside of him. He’s young and no one has ever made him feel this way. He never thought that he would have this kind of love with somebody like Lance.

He wanted to tell him he loves him, right here and right now. It would be perfect. He just met his family, the two of them having this nice moment, surrounded by the sweet fragrances of the garden adding to the atmosphere.

The moment is _there_ and he should tell him.

But he doesn’t.

Instead he leaned in and kissed him. It burned a little as he kissed Lance, knowing he can’t have just a little more in this setting. That the little fire bottom of his stomach wasn’t going to be satisfied tonight.

He can’t believe he’s having _those_ thoughts right in front of Lance’s house where his family were waiting for him.

Pulling back Lance then dragged him back in, not for a kiss, but to hug him tight and so that his words were so perfectly placed right next to easier when he whispered, “Good night Keith.”

Keith squeezed him lightly (and he really meant lightly, he didn’t want to break any of his bones) before letting go and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“I’ll see you at school on Monday.” He wants to say it so bad. It felt like a crime not to tell him he loves him when he’s smiling at Keith so gently and with the wind of the night’s breeze making his hair tousle with it.

“See you Monday,” Lance agreed with a smile. He turned to walk back to his home, looking over his shoulder at him every few steps. He stopped and opened the door and waited for Keith to get inside the car before closing the door behind him and going back to his family.

Now all alone Keith could find a way to breath as he turned the car on.

So this is what being in love was like...

* * *

He practically skipped up to the steps of his home. Nothing was going to ruin his mood. Maybe he could ask Shiro how he could tell Lance that he was in love with him. He wanted to make it really romantic and nice even though it wasn’t really Keith’s. It’s what Lance deserved though.

Keith opened the door and heard voices. Shiro laughed aloud as he walked inside. The clink of his car keys going inside the entrance bowl finally got his attention.

His older brother looked over his shoulder from his space on the couch and got to his feet, a big grin on his face.

“Keith, you’re home! How was dinner with Lance's family?”

“It was really good. I –” he paused as he realised that Shiro wasn’t alone.

Oh, right. He had completely forgotten that Adam was going to be here. It looked like there was no way of him escaping this one.

“I’m glad that you got here before Adam left so I can introduce you to one another!” Keith shoved down his anxieties, knowing he had to suck it up for Shiro’s sake.

The man next to Shiro stood up from and turned around, smiling at Keith with kind eyes.

His breath got caught in his chest, halfway up his throat and burning.

No way. No _fucking_ way.

Adam raised a hand and waved in Keith's direction. “It’s nice to finally meet you Keith. Shiro told me a lot of stuff about you. Most of it was good,” he added it on with a laugh. He tilted his head as he chuckled to look at Shiro who was also laughing along.

Keith didn’t laugh. He felt like he was going to be sick.

Because in front of him wasn’t a stranger, but was the one and only Professor Michaels.

It looks like Keith finally figured out what his first name was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure some of you had figured it out but beforehand but... ~PLOT TWIST~
> 
> also i'm really proud of lance's childhood nickname being MJ like YESSS BRING IN THE CANON SPIDER-MAN CONTENT 🥵🥵🥵🥵
> 
> let me know what you thought of this chapter and i shall see you next update (the last part to this installment 👀👀)


	4. Body Double

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back for the last chapter of this installment!!!
> 
> I was genuinely surprised by how many were surprised with Adam last week! I thought everyone was going to guess it straight away but it was really fun to see all your reactions!!
> 
> anyways, I hope you have enjoyed this part of the series ❤❤❤

This couldn’t be happening.

There was no way in hell that Shiro’s boyfriend, Adam, and Professor Michaels were the same person. There was no way.

Surely this was a huge misunderstanding. It had to be a misunderstanding, right?

“Don’t look so surprised Keith,” Shiro chuckled. “I already told you that Adam was coming over while you were at Lance’s. Did you forget?”

He had forgotten momentarily, but that wasn’t why he was so shocked.

What was he doing here? Does Adam know who Keith was? No, surely not. After Lance had figured it out, Keith had been super careful to not have any slip ups.

He stared blankly at Adam, trying to see if the man was giving him any indication of knowing his secret. A sneer, smirk, _anything_. But he just smiled, a smile that got a little awkward as the more silence Keith allowed to happen continued.

Keith needed to fix himself and get into order, he didn’t want to make it obvious.

“Sorry, I did forget. I kind of had a hectic night. There are lots of people in Lance’s family.” He was already slowly walking away, ready to flee to his bedroom so he could scream into his pillow. “It was a lot, I’m super tired, so I’m just gonna –” he pointed his thumb over his shoulder, “– go to bed.”

The excitement from Shiro's face softened to something a little more mellow.

“Okay, sure thing. Tell me tomorrow how it went though, okay?”

Keith nodded briskly before turning around, walking to his room. Closing and locking the door behind him, he sat on the edge of his bed, hands going through his hair.

_Fuck._

* * *

Lance was happily humming to himself as he approached Pidge’s front door. Smiling as her mother opened it, then chatted pleasantries with her as she directed him to her daughter’s room.

He had been pretty much on cloud nine since last night. Keith made an impression, a _great_ one. It was like the two greatest things in his life had merged together and had become one instead of being considered separate.

He knocked on the door before entering, eager to see Keith again despite it only being the previous night that he last saw him. He wanted to gush to him about the praise his family had given after he left. He wanted Keith to know he had done an amazing job, despite his nerves and… well… other things.

As he entered the room he immediately was taken aback by the tense atmosphere surrounding Pidge and Keith.

Did this have something to do with why Keith had suddenly messaged them both this morning, demanding to have a ‘Super Secret Spidey team meeting’ (not that that’s what Keith called it, but Lance thought it suited)?

“You’re late,” Pidge pointed out to him, making Lance pout.

“I brought doughnuts,” he said, raising his hand and showing the two what he had gotten on the way. He looked to Keith, noticing his hard expression soften for a moment, an amused smirk that only lasted half a second before going back to being an almost scowl. “So… what’s up?”

Pidge cringed. “We have a… _slight_ problem.”

“A _slight_ problem?” Keith snapped, giving her an incredulous expression. “We’ve got a major fucking problem.”

Lance looked between the two, feeling his shoulders rise towards his neck. “What’s going on?”

“I met Adam last night.” Was the only elaboration he got.

“Shiro’s Adam?” Lance questioned.

“Yeah. And it seems like Adam had a last name change because he used to be Adam Michaels. Not Adam Wright.”

Lance’s eyes bulged. “As in Professor Laser-Robots-And-Spider-Making guy? As in the scientist who made you Spider-Man? As in –“

“Yes Lance as in _that_ guy!” Pidge cut in.

“Oh.” Lance slowly made his way to sit next to Keith and placed a hopefully comforting hand on his shoulder. “What does that mean then?”

“It means we have a lot of things to think about,” Pidge groaned, rubbing her temples. “For starters, does Adam know that Keith is Spider-Man and is using Shiro to get closer to him?”

He noticed Keith‘s hands clench into fists. At seeing that, Lance moved his hand from his boyfriend's shoulder to between his fingers so he could keep him from digging his nails into his palms.

 _“Or,”_ Pidge restarted, noticing Keith’s reaction as well. “Adam might have no idea and it’s a coincidence.”

“It’s one hell of a coincidence,” Keith muttered.

“Either way, we don’t know. We don’t even know if Adam is working with us, or against us. For all we know he could be working with Zarkon Harrison to get his experiment back,” Pidge added.

“But if Adam were working for Zarkon Harrison, why would he leak info on his wife? Wouldn’t it be in his best interest to have Spider-Man not even know of her existence?” Lance asked.

“We don’t even know if that information is viable,” Pidge reminded him. “Adam could be giving us false information to confuse us or to give Spider-Man a reason to side with him.”

This whole thing was getting more complicated as time went on and Lance could barely keep up with all the endless possibilities.

“Adam said there was information he could give us so that I could help him make sure Mrs Harrison doesn’t do anything dangerous. I could follow through with that. Be a fly on the wall and look into it for him. If something comes up, we might be able to tell if he’s telling the truth,” Keith said, voice a little gravelly, like he hadn’t slept. From his hunched over posture and tired eyes it wouldn’t surprise Lance.

“It could be a trap,” Pidge said. “We literally have no idea what Adam is up to. We don’t even know what he says is the truth or not. Zarkon’s wife might not even be crazy. It could all be a ploy to get Keith either on their side, or in a rat cage. Ready to help with the weapon goals that Adam was talking about.”

The thought of that made Lance sick. Deeply, deeply ill in stomach to ever think that that sort of thing could happen to Keith.

“What are we going to do?” Lance asked, looking between Keith and Pidge who looked to each other. It seemed everyone was wanting answers from one another.

“I think we should go along with what Adam says. Wait and see if the information lines up. I could double cross him at any stage,” Keith said which made Lance’s heart drop a little bit. He didn’t want him to be any more danger than he already was.

Glancing to Pidge he saw her tight expression and he wondered if she was thinking along the same lines.

“Are you willing to just go on as normal, pretend like you aren’t suspicious around Adam _or_ Shiro?” Pidge asked her friend.

“The last thing I ever want to do is use Shiro as a plot point to get closer to Adam.” The reason he hadn’t told his brother that he was Spider-Man was so that he didn’t have to put him in danger. It seemed that option had been taken away from him with Adam’s involvement. Plus, Lance knew Keith also wouldn’t want Shiro to get heartbroken.

Keith stood and started to pace his room, flexing his fingers, stretching them up like he was ready to get into a fight. He was obviously pissed at the possibility of Adam not being the guy Shiro thought he was.

He’d never seen Keith like this before.

“As long as Shiro stays safe and doesn’t get involved in this any more than he already is, I think I could do it. We still don’t know for sure if Adam knows who I am. Plus, if I told Shiro not to date Adam he would want a reason why, meaning I’d have to tell him I’m Spider-Man.” He stopped walking and looked back at them. “Maybe we could try to throw him off by making it look like I’m _not_ Spider-Man.”

“If Adam already knows who you are, trying to throw him off would just prove that we’re onto him,” Pidge said.

“Maybe that is what we want though?” Lance spoke up, getting the others attention. He rolled his eyes at their confused expressions. “Think about it. If Adam knows Keith is Spider-Man, and we put an obvious plotting, say a body double, then he _knows_ we’re onto him. He _knows_ that we know who he is. From there it becomes a cat and mouse game. We just wait for the first person to bring it up, which will be him because he’ll be at a disadvantage.”

Pidge and Keith glanced at one another so he took it as his chance to continue.

“If it happens that Adam has no idea that Keith is Spider-Man, then it just adds to the line of reassurance that he will not find out. If Spider-Man and Keith just _happened_ to be in the same room then there’s no way Adam could assume it’s you. Unless he knows for certain Keith is Spider-Man, he’s gonna just think that he has back up.” Lance raised his hands up with a shrug. “It’s kind of a win-win.”

Keith looked at Pidge. “He’s not wrong. Either way we are at an advantage point.”

Pidge closed her eyes like she was trying to look at everything from perspective and what the outcome could be if they followed through with this plan.

“It’s a good idea,” she said, which made Lance smile. “Crazy, for sure. But it might actually work.”

“But if we’re going with the body double route, we have one minor issue,” Lance said.

“Which is?” Keith asked Lance.

“Well who is going to be the fake Spider-Man? It’s not like we have another guy roaming around with radioactive blood.”

“Who says that he needs to be radioactive? We have a suit, we have web shooters... and we have someone who vaguely knows how to use the equipment. That’s all we need,” Pidge said.

Confused, Lance scratched his cheek. “And who the hell is that? We’re the only ones who know Keith is Spider-Man.” There was silence as Lance looked around the room, noticing Keith cross his arms with a smile on his lips and Pidge smirking deviously.

It didn’t click for a moment.

“Oh! _Wait!_ Are you talking about _me?”_

He was only greeted by two evil smiles.

“Oh God, you _are_ talking about me!”

* * *

“So we know the plan?” Keith asked Lance who had yet to appear from the other room in the suit. From the grumbles and shuffles in the bathroom he assumed that he was struggling to get it on. Keith knew that struggle, it was tight. They were just lucky they were the same height and relatively the same size.

“You, Shiro and Adam are going to have a lovely catch up, Spider-Man is going to enter the scene, wave to Shiro–”

“No…”

“To Officer Shirogane,” he corrected himself before continuing. “I’m going to make my leave, as I do, I give Adam a discrete nod to show that I know it’s him and then go. I’ve totally got this… kinda.”

Keith turned as Lance entered his bedroom, a grin instantly forming on his face at the sight of his boyfriend in his Spider-Man suit. He looked pretty cute, and there was something just so _endearing_ about seeing his boyfriend in his suit. Maybe this is the way the jocks felt giving their jersey to their girlfriend.

He bit inside of his cheek, trying to tame his smile as he watched Lance looking at himself in the full length mirror with a pout. Keith was glad he didn’t have a mask on yet otherwise he would have missed that expression.

“You look way better in this than I do,” Lance huffed, contradicting Keith‘s thoughts. “You don’t think they’re gonna be able to tell that it’s not the _real_ Spider-Man, right? I mean, I don’t exactly fill out the suit the same way that you do with all your glorious muscles.”

Keith scoffed, rolling his eyes as he walked up to Lance. “I’m sure you’ll be able to fill it out in different places,” he murmured with a smirk. Lance paused for a moment, thinking about what Keith had just said. He twisted to face him, gaping at Keith with a big smile.

“That was rather _bold_ of you!” Lance teased as he faced Keith, wrapping his arms around him.

“I can be bold,” Keith assured with a smug grin as he leaned forward to capture Lance’s lips to his. He personally would’ve let the moment linger more but his boyfriend pushed back and pressed his hand to Keith's mouth.

“None of that boldness now, we have a plan to succeed.”

“Then we can be bold after?” Keith teased, breathing a puff of hot air against Lance’s neck. Lance shivered, then jumped back with a nervous laugh.

“Y-yeah. Hell yeah! But… _plan_ first.”

Keith didn’t know what kind of sorcery came over him to be acting so smug right now. Maybe the suit was doing more to him than he thought.

“Plan first,” he agreed, and then it commenced.

* * *

The hardest part of acting like Keith didn’t know a huge, mind-boggling secret about Adam was knowing how to act in front of Shiro.

His brother was ecstatic when Keith suggested that they all go to have lunch at a cafe. Excited to get his brother and his boyfriend at one table. Especially because Keith – the reluctant one – suggested it first.

It hurt to have to use Shiro like this, but it was what needed to be done to make sure this plan succeeded. It was their safest option.

It didn’t stop him from feeling guilty when Shiro sat across from him with a big excited, yet nervous grin as they waited for Adam to arrive.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be on my best behaviour,” Keith said. Of course he had to behave for this to work. He couldn’t let his passive aggressiveness seep through and make him look suspicious of Adam’s intentions.

“I know. And I know this is a lot to take in. I haven’t been with anyone in a long time. But I really hope you can give him a chance like I did. I can see you’re putting in effort, which means everything to me. You don’t have to be best buddies or anything, but I really would love for you guys to get along.”

Keith forced a smile, hoping that the way it wobbled didn’t look like guilt.

“I’ll try my best.”

His brother smiled. “And that’s all I ask for.” And like how Keith just _knew_ Lance had entered a room, Shiro lifted his head and smiled as he caught sight of Adam approaching. Keith had conveniently chosen an outdoor table, knowing it was essential for their plan.

Keith didn’t move as Shiro stood to greet his boyfriend. Trying not to seethe with rage when Shiro kissed his cheek.

As they sat down, Adam smiled across the table. It felt so weird to be sitting with Professor Michaels, the mastermind behind the spiders. In this setting he looked so… normal. “Hey Keith, nice to see you again.”

Keith forced a smile. “Yeah, you too.”

It was good to be close so he could observe his every treacherous move.

“Well, I’m hungry so I reckon we should all have a look at the menu,” Shiro said, grinning as he looked in between his boyfriend and brother, like he was ecstatic about the interaction so far. “Keith, you come here all time with Lance, don’t you?”

A lot of the time that was Keith’s excuse when he needed to get out of the house for Spider-Man business. But it was true that Lance and Keith quite often came here after school. It was the same place that he told Lance that he liked him before having to go before the whole bus incident.

“We usually only get drinks,” Keith admitted as he flipped over the menu. “The toasted sandwiches are good though, and cakes and stuff. Lance likes them.”

“Lance is your boyfriend, right?” Adam asked with a soft smile. A part of him felt queasy at the thought of him knowing his boyfriend’s name, the other part was wondering how Adam was either a really good actor or genuinely didn’t know his biggest secret.

It didn’t matter either way though if he knew or not, after today they were still going to have the upper hand.

“Yeah, we’ve been together for around six months.”

Nearly six months… He was going to have to figure out something nice with their half a year anniversary. Was that a thing? Maybe that’s when he could say that he loved him?

“They are very cute,” Shiro cooed over it like he was talking about puppies or first graders holding hands. “Keith adores him. He is all ‘I’m Keith, I’m grouchy and filled with teenage angst,’ but he melts around Lance. It’s really sweet.”

Keith scowled at his brother across the table. “Don’t patronise me,” he grumbled which made Shiro laugh and Adam smile.

“Well maybe next time you can invite him. I’d love to meet him.”

“Yeah,” Keith started, amused by the irony as his senses clocked in on the distant sound of Lance banging on the pipes in an alleyway one block down. It was the code to know that he’s about to arrive, hopefully soon.

There was a ruckus down the street and a few people cheered. Keith took a single sip of the complimentary water to distract himself for a few moments until he caught sight of the bright red suit walking past with a flock of people falling behind.

‘Spider-Man’ stopped, and backtracked until he stood right in front of Shiro, Adam and Keith‘s table.

“Officer Shirogane,” Lance said. It was weird hearing his boyfriends voice with the voice disguise on. “What a pleasant surprise to see you out of uniform. Almost thought that thing was glued onto you for a moment.”

It was what they had scripted for Lance to say. Spider-Man always had fun banter with the police officers he worked with.

Shiro laughed. “Nice to see you too Spider-Man. I’m surprised to see you out. You don’t usually patrol at these times.”

Lance under the suit shrugged. “Oh, you know me. I’m always watching,” and bam, there was that subtle glance towards Adam that had the man stiffening under the hero’s gaze.

In a blink of an eye the exchange was over and Lance was stretching his arms over his head and looking back to Shiro. “Well, I better get back to business. See you later Officer Shirogane.”

And with that, Lance shot up a web and swung upwards onto the top of the small building. A little wobbly, sure, but he’s pretty sure his boyfriend made it up there in one piece for him to go get later after this cafe moment.

Shiro chuckled and it shook his head to himself. “He’s a strange character.”

“I didn’t know that you knew Spider-Man,” Adam said stiffly. Keith observed him closely and noticed his clenched jaw tense limbs.

“Oh, yeah,” Shiro shrugged with nonchalance. “We see him all the time now that the force is letting him work with us.”

Adam hummed before gluing his eyes to the menu in front of him. “Shall we order then?”

Keith focused on the blood pumping and heart racing in Adam’s chest, the realisation making him frown. He held it back, not wanting to show his surprise.

There was one very obvious thing to note about Adam's reaction to that exchange with Spider-Man that had lasted less than 20 seconds. Keith wasn’t even sure what to think of it.

He was _scared_.

* * *

Some while later Keith crawled onto the roof, seeing where Lance had landed. The boy was lying on his back, Spider-Man mask still on and scrolling through his phone.

He sat up straight as Keith walked over, letting out an exasperated sigh as he scrambled to his feet.

“Thank _God_ ,” he whined, making grabby hands for him as he continued to walk over. “I was getting really bored just sitting here waiting. How did it go? Did I do a good job?”

“You killed it Lance,” he said, smiling as Lance bounced on his toes excitedly.

“Really? Thank God! My twenty near death experiences in the span of 30 seconds was all worth it then! What did Adam do?”

“It was weird actually,” Keith started as he unzipped his backpack and handed Lance some baggy clothes that he could put on over the suit. “He looked freaked out. Super freaked.”

“Really? Huh… So what's your next move going to be?”

It felt like a game of chess. Like he was one move away from knocking out the opponent’s King or getting his ass handed to him.

“I don’t know, let’s hope Pidge has an idea.”

* * *

The ball was now in their court, and they were winning the game. “I think it’s time to take a risk,” Pidge said, handing over the burner phone. “I think we should call him.”

“Now?”

“It makes sense doesn’t it? Spider-Man saw him today. It gives him a reason to contact him and Adam doesn’t have our contact details. There is no way to contact Spider-Man.”

“What should I say?” Keith asked.

“Keep it brief, say you want to talk about Zarkon’s wife. If it goes well, we can suggest working together.”

“I thought you were against that idea?” Lance said in disbelief. Pidge shrugged.

“You were right. Adam is better off on our side than Galra Labs. And if he really is double crossing us and at least we have a close eye on him.”

Keith tried not to smile as he noticed the happiness in Lance’s eyes, like all his previous worries about her not liking him had suddenly melted away.

He looked back down to the phone and took a deep breath.

“Alright, let’s do this thing.”

Grabbing the crumpled business card, he dialled in the numbers. He pulled the mask down over his face as the numbers rang and activated the voice disguiser. It was a tense for a moment where everyone waited. Air heavy and thick with anticipation.

Not too long after the ringing came, a voice picked up.

“Hello, Adam speaking.”

“Professor Michaels,” Keith started, knowing that with the voice disguiser made him sound instantly recognisable.

“W-what-” he cleared his throat. “What do you want?”

He looked to Pidge who mouthed the words ‘meet up’.

“I want to meet. Discuss things.”

_Good job Keith, keep it vague and loose._

There’s a long round of silence, like Adam wasn’t sure what his answer should be. Maybe he really was scared and taking this response seriously.

“… When?”

“Tonight, same place, same time as last time.”

There was a heavy breath on the other line. “I’ll meet you there then.”

The line went quiet and when Keith was done, he threw the phone on the bed, instantly feeling some of the weight leave his shoulders. It wasn’t all of it, but at least some.

* * *

Keith made sure he arrived before Adam did. Sitting in one of the chairs he waits.

And waits.

And waits.

“He’s late,” Pidge grumbled. “He’s 15 minutes late and that’s all it took for Lance to get bored and fall asleep. He’s drooling on your pillow by the way.”

Keith chuckled at the imagery. “Yeah, he tends to do that a lot.”

“What? drool?”

“I meant nap, but yeah he drools a lot too.”

He was about to continue speaking when Keith heard footsteps from outside. Not too long later Adam strode into the room with three boxes stacked on one another. Once halfway across the room, he dropped them and kicked them towards him.

“Here, take it. It’s everything on Honerva Harrison, Zarkon’s wife. “

Keith’s brow cocked up as he approached the boxes, peering inside.

“Articles, research, experiment data, everything is in that box.”

“Why are you giving it up so easy?” This didn’t make sense. Why did Adam look so fearful? Like he was ready to sprint any second?

“Today was a message, wasn’t it?” Adam spat, his tone surprising Keith. “You approached me with my boyfriend. It felt like one hell of an indication that you know who I am and have looked into my personal life. I wanted to leave everything behind after what happened at Galra Labs. I’m ashamed of what I did to that woman. I don’t want to bring my boyfriend or his family into this.”

“You thought me approaching you today was a threat? That if I didn’t give you what you wanted you thought I would go after the people you love?” Keith asked, surprised by the reaction. So this is where Adam’s fear was coming from? He was scared, but not for himself… But for Shiro.

“You tell me,” Adam said, crossing his arms over his chest, looking away from Keith.

“I don’t know if you realise this, but I’m the good guy here. I don’t hurt anyone for information. Especially innocent cops and their families.” Keith walked up to Adam slowly, jumping over the boxes. Adam jolted, taking a step back. “I’m not going to hurt you. Why are you so certain that I am?”

Adam shifted under his gaze, despite the man being a good few inches taller than Keith.

“In those boxes there aren’t just articles. There are videos too. Watch those videos and you’ll understand exactly why I’m scared of my creations.”

Adam turned around and left the room without another word, leaving Keith and Pidge absolutely stumped.

* * *

They watched the videos as soon as Keith got home.

Pidge watched through the spaces of her fingers.

Lance gagged dramatically.

Keith watched the whole thing, completely focused on what he was looking at.

It was Zarkon’s wife; Honerva.

It was video diaries updates on her progress. She started a sickly pale grey, obviously from her illness. A few videos later she glowed with health, but it started to go downhill fast.

Four videos in her skin became scaly and her eyes turned a shade of yellow. Her actions were horrendous, with her digging her fingers into her own skin. Raking her sharpening nails through to release the scales that were growing underneath the first layer of skin. She was pulling out her hair, screaming like she belonged in a psychiatric ward.

Each video she got worse, got stronger, got more insane.

In the last video she attacked a staff member to the point where Keith wasn’t even sure if that person was alive anymore.

It scared him. It scared him a lot.

As Pidge and Lance stared at the screen in horror after finishing the final video, Keith moved to pick up the burner phone. Calling the only number that was in the history.

“I watched the videos,” he said after pulling on his mask.

“… I see.”

“I’m in. Let’s find Honerva and stop her before she does something we both regret letting happen.”

In the end it didn’t matter if Adam was working for Zarkon and was planning to double cross him or not, he had information on this woman, and if it was anything like this in real life, Keith wanted to find her so she wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone.

Keith was going to stop this if it was the last thing he did. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN!!!!!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed! I've missed this series and I've been working on the next part (which will also have multiple chapters, not sure how many yet though)
> 
> Next I'll be updating my stripper lance au so get ready for that!
> 
> Let me know what you think and what you think might happen next 👀 i'd love to see if any of you have any theories

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 complete!!! 
> 
> klance are so soft in this installment i CRY
> 
> see you next update ❤❤❤❤


End file.
